MENTAL health bosses are planning to meet chiefs at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in a bid to have the planned imposition of staff parking charges dropped.

The acute trust announced a scheme to charge its staff to park on all its sites in April last year.

Since then, members of Worcestershire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust have been faced with the dilemma of whether or not to follow suit.

The meeting, for which a date is still to be set, will be a last chance to dissuade acute trust bosses from bringing in the fees.

If the charges are implemented, they will take effect from April.

"All our people are modestly paid and to say to them you we are going to charge you for coming to work is very difficult indeed," said mental health trust chairman John Calvert.

The new charges will affect all staff working at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Newtown Hospital, in Worcester, Kidderminster Hospital and the Alexandra, in Redditch.

The policy is part of a radical bid to reduce the number of cars visiting the sites and encourage staff to be more environmentally-friendly by walking, cycling or taking public transport instead.

But the mental health trust is worried that this will lead to resentment among its staff because not all staff work at one of the designated sites.

"We are going to have some staff that would have to pay parking charges and others who don't depending on where they work," said chief executive Dr Ros Keeton.

At a meeting of the trust's board on Wednesday it was hoped members would make a decision on whether to agree to the plans.

But while some members, reluctantly, said they felt the trust would have to follow suit, Mr Calvert said he wanted one last attempt to change the minds of acute trust chiefs.